Ina Garten Shares How She Really Feels About Soup

It’s hard to decide what my favorite thing about Ina Garten is, but I think I finally have an answer. It’s that when she’s asked about her food opinions, she gives honest answers! In an age when seemingly no one wants to take a hard stance on the best or worst of anything, it’s refreshing to hear the Barefoot Contessa lay down the law. Off the top of my head, I can remember that Ina has enthusiastically shared everything from her favorite type of knife and type of egg to her favorite side dish and dessert.

As a food writer and certified Ina Garten fan, I’ve noticed something: Ina spends a lot of time talking about soup. Whether it’s an offhand comment on a podcast or a detailed recipe note, she frequently shares her opinions on soup. So, in honor of soup season, I’ve compiled my favorite Ina Garten soup quotes. Enjoy—preferably with a cup of soup!

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Soup Is Ina’s Favorite Comfort Food

Soup is, without a doubt, one of the most comforting dishes you can eat. Even the act of making soup feels therapeutic. I love carefully chopping vegetables, simmering them on the stovetop and waiting for all those aromas to waft gently around my kitchen. I’ll go so far as to say that soup feels a little magical; it’s like brewing a delicious potion.

Ina Garten and I happen to share the same comfort food: butternut squash soup. Her recipe includes two secret ingredients that really amp up the flavor profile—apple cider vinegar and curry powder. The sweet tang of the ACV and the warm, earthy spice are perfect compliments to silky sweet butternut squash. My mouth is already watering.

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Soup Is a Special Lunchtime Ritual

If you work all day developing and testing recipes, sometimes making food to eat for mealtimes can be an annoyance. That’s why Ina Garten usually makes a big batch of soup and freezes it for quick and easy lunches. In an episode of podcast Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, she revealed that she and Jeffrey eat soup together every day for lunch. It’s become a cute little midday ritual for them—no additional meal prep required.

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Soup Is an Exception to One of Her Golden Rules

If you’ve followed Ina for any period of time, you know that she has two famous catchphrases. The first is a simple “How easy is that?”, which she says with delight while preparing ingredients or recipes. The second, of course, is “Store-bought is fine.” It’s a great reminder that not everything needs to be made from scratch. There’s a place for convenience in every home cook’s kitchen.

However, soup is not included in this store-bought exception. According to a segment on the Today Show, she never buys canned soup. To her, it’s much easier to make delicious soup at home, and the quality is really much better. Honestly, I have to agree with her!

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Soup Is Always Worth the Effort—with One Exception

Sure, we know that Ina’s favorite soup is butternut squash. And while she has no problem whipping that up on a rainy day, there’s one specific soup recipe that she thinks is more trouble than its worth to make at home. On an episode of Good Hang with Amy Poehler, she revealed the classic French recipe that she has no patience for: bouillabaisse.

She mentioned that there are certain meals that she never cooks because they’re too complicated. “A really good bouillabaisse takes forever,” she tells Amy Poehler. “A good bouillabaisse literally cooks for days, and it’s got all the bones and the heads and the stock and all that stuff.” So if you’re ever invited over to Ina’s house, there’s probably a good chance that you know what’s not on the menu.

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Soup Is Life

I don’t know if we’ve yet heard all of Ina Garten’s soup opinions, but I feel comfortable saying that this is her favorite dish. I wonder if perhaps her nightmares are filled with store-bought cans of bouillabaisse. Regardless, I know what her dreams are filled with, because she has listed her favorite soup recipes on her website.

Ina Garten’s favorite soups:

• Butternut Squash and Apple Soup (of course)
• Winter Minestrone
• Chicken Ramen-Noodle Soup
• Italian Wedding Soup
• Tuscan White Bean Soup
• Creamy Potato Fennel Soup

I don’t know about you, but my mouth is watering. Looks like I have meal plans for the next few weeks!